


Going Down Swinging

by Emmagem803



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Yu Yu Hakusho
Genre: Crack, Dark tournoment, Fighting, Gift Fic, organized fighting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-09
Updated: 2017-01-09
Packaged: 2018-09-15 23:18:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9263099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emmagem803/pseuds/Emmagem803
Summary: Tony drags into Steve into organized fighting, turns out all the opponents are demons that he doesn't have the power to fight against.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LaughingCat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaughingCat/gifts).



> part of the Fuck 2016 charity month.
> 
> Thank you to Udunie for betaing. You rock my world.

Steve blinked at the file sitting in front of him. “We’re doing what now?”

Tony flung his feet over the table. “Come on, he’s shady as fuck. This guy, Sakyo, he hates my guts. It’s the worst kept secret that he’s super into underground fighting. Two days ago he comes up to me and invites me to this gig. And then! He starts dropping these words like ‘supernaturally strong,’ and ‘inhuman performances.’ Like in that really ‘you catch my drift’ kinda way.”

“Did you catch his drift?” 

“Well, I checked out the destination for this tournament he was talking about, and there has been a lot of activity going on.” He flipped it open to a random page, and Steve glanced over the info on the page. The guy in the photo looked like he could take on a bus. Tony turned to the page he wanted, a satellite image of a bare piece of earth, followed by a picture of a fully formed stadium. “I mean, there isn’t a time lapse or nothing, it’s just there. And that is physically impossible. He’s totally hiding something.”

“And you want me to help you present this to Fury.” Steve sighed, putting his elbows on the table. He really wasn’t in the mood for Tony’s antics. He was already feeling antsy from the weeks of inactivity. 

“Yeah, you can like, pretend to be a fighter or something, while I go sneak around the VIP booth and see where this guy and his friends are getting all this weird stuff they keep doing,” Tony snickered, “Get this, he’s super interested in you. He kept asking if I could get you to come with me.”

“Sounds like a trap.” 

“A poorly concealed one.” 

Steve ran his fingers through his hair. “Tony, I know that there hasn’t been any new intel on Loki’s scepter in two weeks, but that doesn’t mean that you can just use S.H.E.I.L.D. resources to do background checks on your competition.”

Tony sighed. “Fine,” he said, collecting the papers. “I thought I would offer a legit investigation on something that is legit illegal because I know that you get twitchy and grumpy when you don’t have anything to do. I figured we could play detective, you could flash your muscles at some obvious baddies, and we’d all have a good time, but nope. Mr. Conserve Resources is too hung up on details.”

“Don’t be like that,” Steve said. “I’m not saying it’s not interesting, but do you really think you have to check it out yourself?”

“Nooooo, but that’s kind of the point. In and out, easy peasy.” Tony leaned back in his chair, bringing two legs off the ground. “Come on, be my wingman, please?”

Steve pulled the file back to open it up. “I’m not going to say anything until I’m done reading through this.”  
~oOo~

Steve didn’t know how this was his life. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what was happening here. These were not humans. He was standing in a stadium full of monsters; things straight off of medieval tapestries, all jeering and shouting at him in languages he couldn’t understand. The ring was large with raised stones, strangely spotless and devoid of damage, despite these matches going on for several days. 

“Good afternoon everybody!” The announcer shouted into the microphone, or really the translator that Sakyo provided. “We have for you a special treat! This here is Captain America! And we’re going to give one lucky contestant here a chance to fight him! How does that sound?” The crowd roared in response. Steve flinched as the humming grew louder. An assistant brought over a bucket filled with slips of paper. 

“Bet you’re glad you filled these out now,” The announcer said, winking at the crowd. She shook it up. “Whoever wins this match advances their team straight to the semi-finals. Who’s up for that?”

Steve looked up towards the darkened glass, hoping that Tony could see his eye roll.  
“And the winner issssssss…” Her eyes widened at the name. “Kurama, from team Urmeshi, our fan favorite!” the resounding boos and hisses seemed to contradict her words.

Steve looked across the ring at his opponent. This… kid, couldn’t be more than sixteen. He had bright red hair, almost pink in the sunlight. His eyes were green, large but narrowed in concentration, his limb were slight, almost fragile looking. He looked like he could fall over at the slightest touch. But there was a humming in the air around him, just like with the other fighters. He had no doubt that this person was strong, but Steve didn’t know if he could take him seriously. 

“Same rules apply. Whoever falls out of the ring or dies is the loser!” the announcer said. The girl rushed off to the side, the translator scrambling after her. “The match starts when I leave the ring.” 

When the woman jumped down from the platform, Steve expected to be charged, but the boy didn’t move, his eyes scanning him up and down. Kurama didn’t seem bothered by the hate being shouted down to them from the crowd. Steve didn’t know what to do, but he definitely wasn’t going to make the first move. He knew nothing about this guy, so it was best to stay still and watch. 

“Hello,” Kurama said in English. 

“Oh, uh, hi,” Steve said, caught off guard. 

“Are you really 95 years old?” he asked.

“Are you really a teenage boy?”

Kurama smiled. “Yes and no. Hold on.” He pushed his hands through his hair and produced three seeds. “Please, don’t do anything stupid.” He threw the seeds down to the ground, which instantly sprouted into thick, thorny vines. Steven stepped back, as he was encased by the plants. Kurama charged forward and dove through the narrowing opening right before it closed.  
The boy’s eyes seemed to glow in the dim light. As he adjusted, Kurama sat down on the ground, his face softening into a welcoming smile. “You definitely don’t belong here.”

Steve didn’t sit. “What makes you say that?” 

“Unlike a lot of these… people, I have been through a public education system,” Kurama explained.  
“I know your accomplishments during the WW2. I also know about New York and the ‘alien invasion.’ It wasn’t hard to put the pieces together.”

Steve snorted. “Those were actually aliens.” 

Kurama shrugged, “Whatever you want to call them.” 

“So what happens now?’ Steve asked. 

“Well, I would very much appreciate it if you would just surrender,” Kurama said, chuckling slightly, “Though I doubt you’ll say yes. But in all honesty, you are very lucky to be paired up with me.”

“Why’s that?”

“You may be strong, Captain,” he said, almost sweetly, “But not strong enough to protect yourself against spirit energy, unless you are doing a very good job at masking your powers.” 

Steve shrugged. He had no idea what this guy was talking about, but he wasn’t about to admit that to a potential attacker. His heart was sinking with every moment he was trapped in this plant cage. Although to be fair, this guy could be trying to kill him at this point and he wasn’t. He wanted to believe Kurama wasn’t going to screw him over, but he would wait until he was out of this deathmatch with him. 

“Please,” Kurama said, taking him off guard. “My team has everything to lose if we do not win the finals. Why are you fighting here?”

“Are you being coerced to participate?” Steve asked. From the look on Kurama’s face, he didn’t like being sidetracks from his own question.

“Not in a direct sense,” he said anyway. “When we started, it was just a nice challenge, I’m sure you can understand that. But the further we’ve gotten, the stakes have just gotten higher. Now we couldn’t back out even if we wanted to.”

“These people who run this place, do you know anything about them?” 

Kurama raised an eyebrow. “Is that what you are looking for?” Steve didn’t answer. Kurama pressed his fingers under his chin. “I think we can help each other. I compiled many dossiers on the key members that fund this tournament, records you probably didn’t get through your intel.” He waved away Steve’s incredulous look. “Please, I could get more accurate information by typing ‘demons’ into the search bar, let alone what I actually did. I will give you everything I found.”

Steve ran his hands through his hair. “I’m not going to just sit back and let you attack me, you understand that right? I have no way of knowing if what you are saying is true, or just a way to let me get my guard down.” 

Kurama nodded. “What you need to understand is that I don’t need to do that.” The vines around them moved inwards closing in on both of them. “I could bring this whole thing down around us, and I wouldn’t get a scratch. You, on the other hand, have no protection against spiritual energy, and will be torn to ribbons.”

Steve took a deep breath. “So how do you want me? Should I lay down flat for you? Should I stand with my eyes closed?” he asked with as much venom as he could muster, which wasn’t as much as he expected. 

Kurama blinked, his cheeks darkening. “I… I would like not to hurt you. But at the same time, I know that these people,” he wave generally around them, “will not accept anything less than an entertaining fight. No matter that you physically can’t provide one.” He got to his feet, dusting himself off. “Shall we give them a show?”

Steve nodded. “I’ll play along, but if I get the sense that you are really trying to kill me, I won’t hold back.”

“Of course.” Kurama raised his hand, and the vines slowly crept back into their seeds. As soon as they were free of the vines, the roar of the crowd swarmed around them. Kurama threw himself at Steve, a vine striking out at him, almost like a whip. Steve caught it with his arm, the thorns digging deep into his muscles. Kurama tried to pull him off balance, but Steve countered, knocking him off balance. They exchanged a few quick blows, until Steve got an opening, delivering a kick that sent him flying.  
Kurama crumpled to the ground as Steve unwrapped the whip from his arm. He got a sinking feeling in his gut, but Kurama slowly got to his feet, not even clutching his side. _Okay, so he may have this magic whatever, but I’m physically stronger than him. I shouldn’t hit too hard anymore._ He knew that he really wasn’t a teenager, but he still looked like one, and it was very disconcerting to beat him up. 

Kurama recovered quickly, and then was back with another whip, appearing out of nowhere. Steve just avoided it this time, dodging as it struck at his feet. He flipped over to land behind the boy, ready to land a blow on his spine. 

 

He felt the vines around his ankles a second too late. They had a solid hold on him, flinging him all the way across the ring, right over the side. 

 

He heard footsteps rushing towards him. When he opened his eyes, the announcer and the translator leaning over him, probably to check to see if he was injured.

 

But over them, Kurama was standing, staring down at him, nothing but concern in his eyes. 

 

“Oh, I guess the winner is Kurama!” 

~oOo~

Steve was standing on the landing strip in the shade of the jet they had come in, waiting for Tony to get down there. He imagined that he was soothing ruffled feathers, or maybe plucking them out, he wasn’t sure. The sun was beating down on him, and he was trying in vain to protect his eyes from the glare. 

 

He felt the strong humming again before anything else, he turned around, facing the hotel where the fighters were staying to see Kurama walking up to him. He was accompanied by two other men, but as they got closer, Steve could see that they were around Kurama’s age, at least appearance wise. One of them, a lanky orange haired kid, walked right up to him and started talking excitedly. Steve felt bad that he couldn’t understand a word he was saying.

 

“He says he’s a really big fan of yours,” Kurama said. He stood off a ways, letting the two other boys act as a barrier. “He would really like it if you would sign something for him.”

 

“Sure,” he offered the boy a smile as he eagerly pulled out a pen and some empty lamination, presumably for some of those trading cards. The other one, a calmer smaller boy with slicked back black hair offered different pen and a note card. Steve was surprised by the weight of it, until he saw that there was a small thumb drive pressed into a carved out piece of the pen.  
“This has got to be the clumsiest info exchange I’ve ever been apart of,” he said as he signed the note card.

 

“Well, I’m not afraid of what these people think,” Kurama said. “Most of them are too concerned with their own lives to pay attention to what I’m doing.”

 

“Right,” he handed the paper back to the kid, who then passed it back to Kurama. The two boys said something- Steve assumed it was a thank you- and stepped back, heading back the way they had come. Passing right beside them, even though there was plenty of room on the path, was Tony, walking at a brisker pace than usual. Steven looked behind him to see a few men standing at the edge of the property following after him.

 

“Tony what is that about?” Tony didn’t stop to answer, just grabbed his sleeve and pulled him up the steps of the jet. 

 

“We’ll talk in the air, we’ve overstayed our welcome at this point,” Tony said in a rush. Steve would have laughed, except he knew that Tony didn't startle easily. Soon they were off in the air. It wasn't until they were a safe distance away that Tony slumped into a chair. “Ah okay,” he sighed, rubbing his face with his hand. “I am so sorry, Steve. I had no idea that these… monster things would be so much. I've never seen anything like it.”

Steve wanted to be angry, but Tony already seemed to realize how much of a shit show that could have been. “I know, Tony. I was really lucky the guy I was fighting was reasonable. And.” He held up the pen. “This will probably make the trip worthwhile.”


End file.
